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I think Mikey did a good job sifting through the shit and reality of Vegas after he made touchdown and got established, and before he got uber burned out, VegasRex, too. Our Vegas friends who've managed to excel in town have nothing to do with gambling/casinos/Vegas-as-advertised-by-the-mythmakers in personal and professional life, they do well enough not to have to sweat the typical healthcare (non) delivery system and their kids survived the K-12 scene and are now doing well elsewhere in college. (All are professionals, and I think that is a key bit of it.) And our own Kellee and hubs have made it work very well; I never felt they approached their Vegas move with vacation-hued glasses. Southern Nevada is not devoid of happiness or opportunities; it's just another big city with opportunities and problems, and some unique challenges. However, the town sadly draws many moths to the flame.

Moved there and moved back after two years. Just in general not a healthy place to live. For our two years there, we actually were ahead in gaming, so that was not a reason we moved back to WI.

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Just curious, do you mind telling why you decided to leave Vegas? Thanks.

I know I couldn't live in Vegas year round...the Degen lifestyle would kill me. LOL Seriously speaking, the Vegas
experience that we enjoy now would no longer be as special, and it is very special to us. Vegas is more an escape than a lifestyle. It's an adult Disney World....great in small doses, with some reality in between. With that said, I respect and understand that there are those that can live in Vegas and still enjoy everything it has to offer.

Just curious, do you mind telling why you decided to leave Vegas? Thanks.

I know I couldn't live in Vegas year round...the Degen lifestyle would kill me. LOL Seriously speaking, the Vegas
experience that we enjoy now would no longer be as special, and it is very special to us. Vegas is more an escape than a lifestyle. It's an adult Disney World....great in small doses, with some reality in between. With that said, I respect and understand that there are those that can live in Vegas and still enjoy everything it has to offer.

I'm curious as to Joe's story, also. Summerlin seems like a fine place to live. When the wife and I first started to go to Vegas 13 years ago we never rented a car and only left the strip to visit downtown. Now, we will take the rental car to go gamble at a "locals" casino and visit a nearby restaurant. Nice places, nice people.

I'm curious as to Joe's story, also. Summerlin seems like a fine place to live. When the wife and I first started to go to Vegas 13 years ago we never rented a car and only left the strip to visit downtown. Now, we will take the rental car to go gamble at a "locals" casino and visit a nearby restaurant. Nice places, nice people.

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Everyone on VMB loves Vegas, ourselves included, but when I did post some of the reasons we left, I kinda got bashed. I sent you a PM also.

After 12+ years here I can say you definitely see it all. The city will eat you up and spit you out, if you let it. However, for some, it's a perfectly imperfect place to call home. I don't think I'll stay forever - my heart is set on living abroad, at least for a little while, but for now, there is no place else I'd rather call home. There is a definite seedy side to Vegas, but I think it exists everywhere; Vegas tends to embrace the good, the bad and the ugly, and is unapologetic for it. It's not all bad despite how it's often portrayed, people complain there is a lack of community and in ways it's true. It's transient and 24/7, but when you look past the neon, Las Vegas is filled with families doing what they can to get by... For better or worse. There are compassionate folks that show remarkable kindness, far more than I ever encountered living in Chicago. When it boils down to it, I suppose it is all relative, but I do my best to weather the storms and feel it has panned out pretty well for me.

Everyone on VMB loves Vegas, ourselves included, but when I did post some of the reasons we left, I kinda got bashed. I sent you a PM also.

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I remember that. Ridiculous. A few years back I posted a link to a Vegas piece a friend wrote. He was critical. Very critical. It was so blasted here management nuked the whole thread. Did he go looking for the ugly? Yes. And why is he any more at fault than those who only see pixie dust and cherubs?

Vegas is a complex and ugly and gritty and glitzy and, yes, fun, bitch.

Ya know, Joe, I'd love to know why you left as well. Copy and paste a PM to me, too?

The thing is, I REALLY want to move to Vegas. My husband is iffy about the idea. I'm the main breadwinner in our house (he's not able to work), and I do freelance work online, so I can work from anywhere. The only thing that is holding us back is his grandmother, who raised him. She's in her 70s and isn't in the best health, and he doesn't feel comfortable making a cross-country move right now. As...well...cruel as it sounds, it is something that we are considering doing after she passes away.

I actually already read this post on Thrillist, and I can see it being legit. I just don't know if all of that would affect us. We're married (don't let my signature fool you -- we lived together for almost six years before we got married), wouldn't be working in the service industry and wouldn't be living in an apartment in the middle of the mix...we'd buy a house in a "decent" area of town.

I also would like to have Joe PM his thoughts. I am sorry you got based here for an opinion.

I have had a dream to live PT in Vegas since my honeymoon there 35 years ago. 1 1/2 years ago I realized that dream with a purchase
of a vacation home in the centenials hills area, Granted 5 years earlier I started the purchase of 4 rental homes there which allowed
me many visits there for that purpose.

I am from the midwest and the weather is my main reason I love to visit. The sun shines almost every day. None of those cloudy gloomy
days. None of that -10 degrees with 30 mph winds with snow. Yes it gets hot in Vegas. To us 105 in Vegas is no worse than 90 at home
with our humidity. Yes its gets worse at times in Iowa. In Vegas I have a pool for those extreme hot days. Plus the AC works well.

I love the city for golf. On golf now I get tee times for under $20 for 18 holes with cart. Cheaper than Iowa and nicer courses usually.
Great shooting range. Cheap movies. More entertainment than Iowa has. Food selection is great. Seafood options are far
greater and cheaper. I do gamble but do less all the time. I enjoy going to Sante Fe at 10 at night knowing it doean't matter the time.

To me it is great PT. I have no desire though for full time. I love Iowa's 4 seasons and love my self employed job of farming. We have
peak and valleys with labor time so it fits well to have a PT place. But as winter is slower I have found that I could be in Vegas longer , that
3 weeks is long enough and time for home for at least 2 weeks. Rest of the year 2 week trips seem right.

I admit I am lucky to have these options but they came because of the many years of works to get here. I also get asked Why Vegas?
People think you have a gambling problem if you live or visit there. I have to explain that Vegas is so much more. The centenial Hills
area is such that when you sit in my backyard and relax in the morning drinking coffee and looking at the pool and mountains that
you don't feel you are in a gambling town but just a city with great weather and for most part quiet. It is just a great getaway place
not really different much than those who choose Arizonia or Florida. But I feel Vegas offers more things to do that I enjoy than those places.

So, that is my answer to why Vegas. It is also a great place and cheap to get to, to have friends and family come visit

Kind of you Joe to help out these folks. From where I sit, I say post it here. I think you'd have more than enough cover if some apes start flinging shit because your unbiased real-life experiences might not mesh with their fabricated dreamscapes. I think it would be a service both directions, meaning helping those contemplating a relocation see what didn't work for you guys in your station in life and how that might not necessarily impact where they are.

On the larger matter, relocation can be a very good thing. I've bounced all about an admittedly small geographic region -- the West Coast -- and haven't exactly let go of the side of the pool by heading to Buffalo or Sri Lanka. But whether a local move as a kid the only consequence of which was a new bedroom and a new school or something larger (and Terri has lived internationally and over the Pacific), we're both thankful we didn't run the table in one spot. Our significant changes have been for education or career, singly and collectively, and we had the positive consequence of ending up with places we really liked. There will be a time when we move -- if we leave here -- solely for lifestyle and aesthetics, the environment and place and setting, and not for employment opportunity and career enhancement.

I also would like to have Joe PM his thoughts. I am sorry you got based here for an opinion.

I have had a dream to live PT in Vegas since my honeymoon there 35 years ago. 1 1/2 years ago I realized that dream with a purchase
of a vacation home in the centenials hills area, Granted 5 years earlier I started the purchase of 4 rental homes there which allowed
me many visits there for that purpose.

I am from the midwest and the weather is my main reason I love to visit. The sun shines almost every day. None of those cloudy gloomy
days. None of that -10 degrees with 30 mph winds with snow. Yes it gets hot in Vegas. To us 105 in Vegas is no worse than 90 at home
with our humidity. Yes its gets worse at times in Iowa. In Vegas I have a pool for those extreme hot days. Plus the AC works well.

I love the city for golf. On golf now I get tee times for under $20 for 18 holes with cart. Cheaper than Iowa and nicer courses usually.
Great shooting range. Cheap movies. More entertainment than Iowa has. Food selection is great. Seafood options are far
greater and cheaper. I do gamble but do less all the time. I enjoy going to Sante Fe at 10 at night knowing it doean't matter the time.

To me it is great PT. I have no desire though for full time. I love Iowa's 4 seasons and love my self employed job of farming. We have
peak and valleys with labor time so it fits well to have a PT place. But as winter is slower I have found that I could be in Vegas longer , that
3 weeks is long enough and time for home for at least 2 weeks. Rest of the year 2 week trips seem right.

I admit I am lucky to have these options but they came because of the many years of works to get here. I also get asked Why Vegas?
People think you have a gambling problem if you live or visit there. I have to explain that Vegas is so much more. The centenial Hills
area is such that when you sit in my backyard and relax in the morning drinking coffee and looking at the pool and mountains that
you don't feel you are in a gambling town but just a city with great weather and for most part quiet. It is just a great getaway place
not really different much than those who choose Arizonia or Florida. But I feel Vegas offers more things to do that I enjoy than those places.

So, that is my answer to why Vegas. It is also a great place and cheap to get to, to have friends and family come visit

Kind of you Joe to help out these folks. From where I sit, I say post it here. I think you'd have more than enough cover if some apes start flinging shit because your unbiased real-life experiences might not mesh with their fabricated dreamscapes. I think it would be a service both directions, meaning helping those contemplating a relocation see what didn't work for you guys in your station in life and how that might not necessarily impact where they are.

On the larger matter, relocation can be a very good thing. I've bounced all about an admittedly small geographic region -- the West Coast -- and haven't exactly let go of the side of the pool by heading to Buffalo or Sri Lanka. But whether a local move as a kid the only consequence of which was a new bedroom and a new school or something larger (and Terri has lived internationally and over the Pacific), we're both thankful we didn't run the table in one spot. Our significant changes have been for education or career, singly and collectively, and we had the positive consequence of ending up with places we really liked. There will be a time when we move -- if we leave here -- solely for lifestyle and aesthetics, the environment and place and setting, and not for employment opportunity and career enhancement.

Thank you, Joe. I read your PM and thought it made a lot of sense. I appreciated hearing the truth from someone who loves Vegas but really has no reason to be biased. It's unfortunate that people want to turn on you for sharing your opinion.

Well my 2 cents, all big cities have good & bad! some people like the weather & some hate it. No one can tell someone else where & how to live, it's up to that person!
I have 2 sons that worked in Vegas for 7 years till the collapse of construction. Once you got away from the strip & inner city it was like any other city, there lots of good people living in Vegas, there is lots to do in Vegas besides gamble, if u have a gambling problem, probably not the place to live, but there are other ways & places to gamble! My self I enjoyed visiting them even in july, if u stay out of the sun it is livable I m from Mn. & when it gets humid it is very uncomfortable, it very seldom gets humid in Vegas!

VMB is more of a tourist/visitor site whereas the City Data - Las Vegas forum is mostly used by locals. They get into it about once a week over there regarding the pros and cons of moving to Las Vegas. I'm UTES there.